Great News: They Are Going To Renovate East Potomac Golf Course And Make It Into The Beautiful Course It Absolutely Should Be

This is the 17th hole on the East Potomac Golf Course down in Washington DC. It should be the most famous hole in the country. In fact, the entire course should be way more popular. It's nestled right outside of DC in the perfect location. You look at the Washington Monument the entire time, and it's always watching over you as well.

The Washington Post. Getty Images.

Weird government planes and helicopters buzz overhead and you're waiting for Jason Bourne to jump out of the sky at any minute. It's where I learned to play golf when I lived down there before moving up to NYC. But also, as you might be able to tell, it's kindaaaaa shitty. It's not the place you cry about when you leave.

It's just....not that well maintained. I'm no golf purist. I stink at golf. I like the camaraderie of it, but I'll never break 100. I won't even get close, and that doesn't bother me at all. I like getting out there, hacking around, drinking beers, and getting a tan. I do not like when people take golf way too seriously and start throwing clubs on the 4th hole. It's like, dude, you put in no practice and you just chugged a 4 Loko, what did you expect to happen?

But anyway, East Potomac I long thought needed a bit of an upgrade. And now apparently it's finally getting one: 

Washington Post - The National Park Service on Monday announced that it will begin negotiations with the National Links Trust on a long-term lease to operate East Potomac, Rock Creek and Langston golf courses, with the goal of having an agreement in place no later than Sept. 30. That’s when the Park Service’s contract with concessionaire Golf Course Specialists, Inc., which has provided services at all three courses continuously since 1989, is set to expire. The Park Service issued a request for proposals to find a long-term operator of the courses last July.

The National Links Trust intends to “make a substantial investment in the comprehensive restoration and rehabilitation” of D.C.'s three courses while keeping greens fees among the least expensive in the area. It helps that several of NLT’s partners for the project, including some of the biggest names in golf course design, have pledged to waive their regular fees.

“All three of the courses in D.C. are amazing for their history and the people who play there,” McCartin said. “You can build something cool for everybody to experience and not just the people who are lucky enough to afford it. There’s a lot of reasons that people like golf, but I feel like entry-level courses have always kind of shot for the lowest possible bar from a golf course perspective, and that misses one of those hooks to get people excited about golf. The course can engage you and make you want to go back and play.”

This is just awesome, awesome news. The course stays affordable, and public, but gets the much-needed overhaul it so very much deserves. Greens won't be sloppy 3 days after it rains and bunkers won't be mud pits or piles of sawdust depending on the weather. 

I've always wondered why East Potomac wasn't as nice as it should be, and now I have my answer and a plan to make the course awesome. Hopefully it'll be nice and pretty by the time I move back...just in time for me to hack it up again. I replace my divots, don't worry.